MARYSVILLE – Marysville won the Macomb Area Conference Blue Division tournament title to earn a share of the overall crown with Utica.

The Vikings collected a team score of 415 at the play-six, count-four tournament at Marysville Golf Course on Tuesday, topping the seven-school field and winning the tournament by four strokes over Utica (419).

Utica finished 10-1 in dual matches to win that portion of the standings and finished up with 13 total points. Marysville finished second in dual matches but won the tournament to also finish up with 13 total points. 

St. Clair, third in dual at 9-3, finished third at the tournament (444), followed by Clawson (472), Fraser (501), Madison Heights Lamphere (501) and Port Huron (534).

St. Clair recorded 10 points to finish third in the overall standings, while Clawson, Fraser and Lamphere all finished with six points and to tie for fourth and Port Huron was seventh with just two points.

At the tournament, Clawson junior Joslynn Ramirez was medalist with an 83, while St. Clair senior Sofia Russel finished second with an 89. Marysville senior Samantha Allen claimed third with a 90, while Utica senior Dalaney O’Connor (101), Marysville sophomore Kaycie Zaunner (104), Utica senior Miley Reaves (104), Marysville junior Raegan Horan (106), Utica senior Cali Kaczmar (106), Utica senior Riley Burton (108), Lamphere senior Ava Denmark (110) and St. Clair junior Delaney McDonald (114) also finished in the top 10 in the medalist standings.

Marysville freshman Emma Hurley (115), St. Clair junior Ashlynn Stockwell (115), Fraser junior Hailey Beauchamp (119), Utica senior Violet Smith (121) and Clawson freshman Addie Reynolds (121) also finished in the top 15.

CHSL CENTRAL DIVISION >> Toledo (Ohio) St. Ursula Academy dominated the talent-rich CHSL Central Division this season and wrapped it all up with a conference championship.

St. Ursula won the conference tournament Tuesday at the Flint Golf Course, putting together a play-six, count-four team score of 305 to win in convincing fashion over many Michigan programs with storied histories.

Bloomfield Hills Cranbrook-Kingswood finished 15 strokes behind at 320, while Birmingham Marian (335), Macomb Lutheran North (354), Toledo Notre Dame Academy (354) and Farmington Hills Mercy (357) followed suit.

St. Ursula had three finishers in the top five, four in the top seven and six golfers in the top 15, with the last two finishers not even contributing to the team score.

St. Ursula senior Sydney Socha won the medalist title with a eve-par round of 72. Mercy junior Megan Guerrera was second (75) and St., Ursula junior Olivia Rodgers (76) and Cranbrook-Kingswood sophomore Sintine Charnelet tied for third (76). St. Ursula senior and Toledo Notre Dame Academy snior Macy Valentine tied for fifth (77), while St. Ursula freshman Mia McIntyre (80), Cranbrook-Kingswood junior Josie Vardenhaute (80), Cranbrook-Kingswood senior Sydney Behnke (81) and Marian senior Pippa Dawson (82) followed in the top 10.

Elsewhere, St. Ursula sophomore Kopelyn Kessler (83), Cranbrook-Kingswood senior Harlet Cortez (83), St. Ursula senior Kennedy Donnelly (84), Cranbrook-Kingswood senior Alina Vuan (84) and Marian junior Gabby Wenzel (84) were also top-15 finishers in the deep field of competitors.

Lutheran North was the sole Macomb County school at the event and were led by freshman Nina Hanley in 18th (86), seniors Gabby Cardenas (88) and Maria Fortuna (88) and senior Victoria Ratajczyk (92) who all finished in a competitive top 25.

WARREN – Sometimes soccer can boil down to finishing and not finishing scoring opportunities.

It’s that simple.

Novi Detroit Catholic Central only had eight shots on frame Thursday, but scored on four of them and ended up earning a 4-1 victory over host Warren De La Salle in Catholic High School League Central Division play.

The Shamrocks (7-2-2, 6-0-0), listed as honorable mention in the Division 1 polls, led 2-1 at the half before tacking on a pair of insurance tallies in the second half.

“We started off a little bit slow. But once we scored we were alright. We took advantage of a little bit of misfortune on them (with the two rebound goals). Their goalkeeper made the initial save but we followed (the shots) up and were able to score on them” noted Catholic Central coach Gene Pulice. “Thaier still has them doing a good job. And yes we did finish our opportunities tonight. I think it’s one of those things that if you can take the wind out of their sails a little. Bit. The first team to score helps you achieve that. They cut it down to 2-1 but we pulled it back a little bit in the second half with two more goals and started to get things done. “

More importantly, CC now had a two-game lead on Detroit U-D Jesuit and a three-game lead on De La Salle in the seven-school Central Division and are now comfortably in the driver’s seat in terms of winning the division and grabbing the No. 1 seed for the CHSL Bishop Tournament in October.

“We’re doing pretty good so far, and in the Catholic League they always pitch that we are one of the best leagues in the state out there. It’s a tough league and it’s a battle every game,” said Pulice. “Sometimes it’s better lucky than good. You have to respect all the teams in this league.”

Catholic Central scored the first two goals off of rebound opportunities. The first came with 24:12 still left in the first half when Luke Perry was near the doorstep to knock it home after Zachary Zahr’s first shot was knocked away by De La Salle backup goalkeeper Giovanni Vitale.

The Shamrocks scored the next goal in similar fashion when Grant Mooradian’s blast from the top of the box was knocked down by Vitale but this time it was Zahr in the right place at the right time to knock in the rebound with 19:51 remaining in the first half.

Andrew Corder finally got the Pilots untracked when he found some open real estate near the upper left corner of the box and uncorked a banger from 18 yards out with 17:27 left in the first half. It was Corder’s 21st goal of the season just one month into the campaign.

But Catholic Central had four opportunities in the second half and two were converted by Mooradian. The first came with 34:58 remaining in the game when Peters found Mooradian unmarked in the middle of the box and ripped a 14-yard banger into the net.

Mooradian later converted a penalty kick with 28:06 left to cap the scoring and open up a three-goal lead.

Defensively, Catholic Central did a great job on limiting Corder’s chances, allowing him only three shots on goal. Goalkeeper Jake Sievers turned aside a laser shot by Corder midway through the second half and finished with four saves for CC.

Catholic Central held a 12-11 overall shots advantage in the somewhat evenly- game and also had a 8-5 shots on goal advantage in the contest. De La Salle held a 4-2 edge off corners.

De La Salle, ranked third in the state in Division 2, slipped to 10-3-0 overall and 3-3-0 in league play. Although the Pilots are essentially out of the Central Division race and only Detroit U-D Jesuit can possible catch the Shamrocks.

“Hats off to CC. The better team won tonight. They outplayed us and scored on their opportunities,” said Thaier Mukhtar, whose team in the defending Division 2 state champion and reached the state semifinals in 2023. “They should win the (Central) and we can’t catch him. But there is still a lot for us to play for. We have to get better and get ready for the state tournament and try to go as far as we can. The ultimate goal is to win the state championship.

“This wasn’t one of our better games,” added Mukhtar. “We just got outplayed by CC tonight. We’ll bounce back.”